Those are some nice looking choppers and slashers KnifeGuy.

I have the top Woodsman's Pal in your pictures. I wanted the longer handle and blade but the handle actually hurts the hand on the end when using the reverse/hook side of the blade. I should add that my Woodsman's Pal does not look quite like it did when I got it. First thing I did was sharpen the regular cutting side all the way to the end, as you mention. I also removed the little notch above the hook sharpening and enlarging that area.

I maintain 12 acres of fields and woods. We have a major pest plant all over the property, English Privet. Brought over by the English, it is now second only to Kudzu on the Georgia list of most hated plants. Privet constantly puts up new suckers from roots and will take over an entire wooded area if left alone. It will grow into 30' trees too. I fight a constant battle against it. The stems of the small trees/bushes are very tough. I use a scythe for most of my trim work but the privet will tear up a blade made and sharpened for grasses and normal brush.

Although a brush axe, machete, hatchet..will cut it, cutting it at soil level dulls those tools fast. The hook can be pulled along the surface of the ground cutting this type of woody steemed brush at ground level without having to chop into the dirt. I could use a much tougher scythe blade that is designed to cut tougher materials but it isn't practical to carry two scythes or change blades every time I encounter a privet sucker. Thus my search for a tool that I can carry with me while I use a scythe which will also perform machete type chores. I also find the hook a superior cutting tool for supple small limbs that tend to just get pushed out of the way by a more conventional straighter blade. Birch, Sychamore, Weeping Willow... are all abundant in this area. All these trees tend to make many areas hard to pass through unless these low hanging branches are trimmed..